This invention relates to a method and machine for processing pre-printed cards.
One popular type of pre-printed cards are trading cards such as player trading cards that are available for players on professional sports teams like hockey and baseball. Trading cards are also available for a variety of games. Trading cards are typically sold as small packs in sealed packages, where each pack contains the same number of cards, but the cards in the pack are random. Thus, the purchaser will not know in advance which cards from a series of cards he will find in the pack. This motivates the purchaser to engage in trading to get cards of interest. A manufacturer of trading cards will be concerned that the cards achieve quality control standards and also that the cards in a package are appropriately random. For example, the manufacturer may wish to make certain cards rarer than others to enhance collector excitement.
Another popular type of pre-printed card are playing cards. A new deck of playing cards is typically packaged in a box in an order wherein cards in the suit of hearts are first, followed by those in the suit of spades, followed by those in the suit of clubs, followed by those in the suit of diamonds. The (thirteen) cards in each suit are typically arranged in the order of King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and Ace. A number (typically four) of extra cards, such as Jokers, may be positioned at either the top or bottom of the new deck. This conventional order has the advantage that a purchaser may quickly verify the newly purchased deck is complete. Again, a manufacturer of these cards will be concerned that the cards meet quality control standards and that each deck of cards has the cards it is supposed to have.
To manufacture playing cards or trading cards, a sheet may be imprinted with card images. Cards may then be die cut from the sheet and gathered into batches. The card images may be printed on the sheet in an order which facilitates processing. For example, in the case of playing cards, a sheet may be printed with 56 card images as seven rows with eight images per row with the order of the card images being chosen to facilitate assembly of a batch of cards into a full deck of cards in the noted conventional order.
Unfortunately, a card may stick to a die head during the cutting operation. If this occurs, the card may be cut a second time, possibly after being skewed such that the card ends up having non-standard cuts. Also, the sheets may fall out of registration with the die cutting heads resulting in card images which are not centered. Other cutting errors may also occur. Further, printing errors are possible, especially with multi-coloured cards, where one colour may not be printed in its intended location with respect to other colours printed on the card. These problems are quality control problems.
Another potential problem during card handling is that the cards do not end up in their intended order.